


Beginnings

by KeeperofSeeds



Series: Canticle of Silence: Dissonant Verses [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Blanket Permission, Circle Mages, Disabled Inquisitor (Dragon Age), During Canon, Gen, Mage Abuse and Oppression, Mage Trevelyan (Dragon Age), POV Female Character, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-26 02:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17736950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeeperofSeeds/pseuds/KeeperofSeeds
Summary: Eveyln Trevelyn and Seeker Pentaghast don't get off to the best of starts.





	Beginnings

The Seeker turns on her, sword still drawn, and sees her standing over the remains of the second demon, staff in hand. It’s nothing like her staff, plain and too smooth, her hands sliding as she threw out bolts of energy at the demon.

"Drop you weapon." She demands.

Evelyn feels her body fall into old patterns: curl shoulders forward, look down, don’t appear threatening. She hates herself for it even as she obeys, kneeling to lay the staff gently down.

But unlike a Templar Cassandra seems to pause and reconsider her order. “Wait. I cannot protect you. Your life is threatened enough as it is. Take it. Maker knows what we will face.” She then turned away, seemingly leaving her back open for attack. A test? Evelyn wondered, or something else. Alone in the destruction, the Seeker had little choice as to trusting her. Likely she knew well that a mage did not need a staff to be a threat, but had made the decision to trust her anyway. At least for now.

Evelyn would take what she could get. An uneasy alliance was better than being chained and tortured for answers she could not give.

She picked up her pace to catch up with the Seeker’s longer strides and quickly reached out to lay a hand on the woman’s arm, stopping them in their tracks. The ghostly glow of a demon drifted through the trees ahead of them. Cassandra nodded in thanks and said in a low voice, "If we flank them, we may gain the advantage." Evelyn nodded. In the times since the Circles dissolved, this had become normal. In this, she could prove herself. She gripped the staff tighter and made her way through the trees, listening for the sounds of Cassandra striking out before she ducked out from cover and threw out a blast of fire at the closest demon. Twirling the staff around she throws down a glyph beside her to deter an attack on her blind side.   
  
For the first time since she woke up, she feels normal again. The adrenaline of a fight burning away the pain from her hand, the blank spots in her memory, and the anxiety of what was to come next. The only thing that mattered was survival. 

**Author's Note:**

> Some background on this Inquisitor as she deviates from the canon background slightly: She is a female mage, mostly estranged from her family because of her magic, who became part of a Rebel mage group (not the one in Redcliffe though). She escaped the Circle when they fell with a small group and has been on the run pre-DAI. It's not explored in this ficlet but she does have a neck/throat injury that makes it difficult for her to talk loudly or for long periods of time. She occasional uses signs, though I headcanon that signs developed in the Circles vary from ones Dwaves or other cultures might use.


End file.
